The road to an emission-free Kosovo

Emission Free Driving in Pristina, Kosovo is it possible? There are numerous amounts of cars and numbers that show the opposite, however, there is hope.

Netherlands voted: As of 2025 no more petrol or diesel cars will be allowed to be sold. Latest insights clearly indicate how the sales of EV cars is growing in the Dutch country. In case this is carried out until 2025, that means that the people of The Netherlands will be able to purchase only (via a Labour motion for the Cabinet’s support) sustainable, zero-emission cars.

The radical decision from The Netherlands puts a recent video from GAP Institute of Kosovo into perspective. The average car age in Kosovo is 18.1 years compared to 8 years in Europe. The Customs made 40 million from importing old & used cars from Western Europe, which in return puts 4 times more carbon emissions into the already polluted air of Kosovo.

To date (2016), there has been close to no electric car registered in Kosovo, and although there may have been attempts, the current legislation of Kosovo doesn’t support much in this direction. The whole process of registering a car is the same as for registering a 1987 Golf 2 or a 2016 Mercedes. There are no tax incentives or any other benefits if you buy an electric car. There are no reserved parking spots or charging stations like they exist elsewhere in the world.

How does the registration process work?

The registration of cars in Kosovo is done through the Automotive Center that is part of the Civil Registration Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In order to proceed you need to be able to testify about the ownership of the car, to have a receipt from the seller of the car, an original document from the original country where the car is being imported, a document of identification issued by the institutions of Kosovo, an insurance policy not older than 15 days, the customs document, a receipt that testifies that you have paid the taxes, a receipt that testifies that you have paid the road tax and the ecological tax for the car, the certificate of technical control, and a homologation document that is a procedure to prove the compatibility or suitability of the vehicle as a whole with the regulatory provisions of Kosovo.

The associated costs

If the car has a larger engine than 2000 cubic centimeters, you have to pay an excise tax ranging from 400 up to 1,500 Euros, depending on the age of the car. For an engine ranged between 2100 and 3000 cc, the excise tax is 300 euros for unregistered cars up to 2,200 euros, depending on the age of the car. If the car has an engine larger than 3000 cc, the excise tax starts from 800 euros up to 3,900 euros, depending on the age. For an electric car there is no such associated excise tax because the car doesn’t have any cubic centimeter engine, but an electric motor.

The associated costs for an electric car in Kosovo are the customs and VAT dependent on the price and currently, there’s no legislation to support or promote EV usage.

What can be done

Oslo is considered the EV capital of the world. This has been a result of successful policies implemented to promote EV adoption, which included incentives like exemptions from vehicle fees, VAT on the purchase, road tax, public parking, toll payments, ability to use bus lanes, etc, in order to reach the target of 50,000 EV cars by 2017.

The initial starting problem that Kosovo has is the juice produced for the EV Cars. Coal is the number one resource for electricity in the country. In short, that kinda means that owning an EV car and charging it via the electrical grid, has the same outcome. However, scientific data shows different results, and impact is present even when charged from coal.

Having Solar Produced Energy helps in this direction and Slovenian manufacturer Rudis d.o.o. Trbovlje has launched Kosovo’s first photovoltaic power plant in Gjurgjevik, in the Kline municipality.

Kosovo’s Minister for Economic Development Blerand Stavileci said that the government is aiming to generate some 25% of Kosovo’s energy from renewable energy sources by 2020, which puts the country on a good path, at least on initial planning stages.

The Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) of Kosovo gives incentives to private investors in alternative power sources by giving them direct access to the market, in terms of selling the production to the grid.

However, the country is facing a battle for clean air and energy, due to the fact that the World Bank plans to finance the construction of a Coal Power Plant that produces 600 megawatt. The World Bank’s proposed coal-fired power plant also complicates Kosovo’s future as a potential member state of the European Union. This is because the country would struggle to meet ever-increasing EU renewable energy standards.

That covers step 1, the juice.

The legislative infrastructure

This is step number two of the process. The country needs to have lawmakers push forward incentives that promote the use of EV cars, through exemptions from vehicle fees, VAT on the purchase, road taxes and other related costs. This would be a solid incentive for people to invest in EV Cars instead of gas or diesel powered ones.

Step 3 would include supporting infrastructure, like AC EV charger in Skopje, Macedonia which is free to use. These supporting charging points can be placed in the city center of Prishtina or other cities that want to follow, and provide free parking and be charging for EV Cars.

Comments are more than welcome below for plans and ideas on how to put the country forward in terms of cooperating and supporting EV infrastructure.

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